Related Stories

Wearing his green jacket, Jordan Spieth sat in the interview room at Augusta National and explained why he was ready to win this week.

“Unlike in the past, in the distant past, say a year ago, this time I was ready to make those putts.”

That’s the kind of year it has been for the newly-minted Masters champ. When you’re 21 years old sometimes last year can feel like the distant past and, on Sunday, he made it look like it. One year removed from stumbling down the stretch against Bubba Watson, the young Texan completed a record-breaking win, claiming his first major and further putting the golf world on notice.

After setting the 36- and 54-hole Masters scoring record, Spieth’s 18-under 270 total tied Tiger Woods’ record for lowest 72-hole score. By leading after every round he became the fifth man -- and first in 39 years -- to win at Augusta wire-to-wire, while his 28 birdies is a new tournament record.

Seated in the interview room, Spieth was as humble and respectful as he was confident and brash on the golf course over the past four days. With Ben Crenshaw playing in his 44th and final Masters much has been written about the torch of Texas golf being passed from Gentle Ben to Jordan Spieth, and for once the syrupy story was not hyperbole.

“When you are a Masters champion it’s a different legacy,” Spieth said.

He called Sunday “arguably” the greatest day of his life, being careful not to disrespect any other day that might be listening. He then asked if he could get back to us in a week about what the green jacket means to him because he wasn’t quite ready to put it into words.

Earlier in the week Spieth said he didn’t want to talk about his humility because doing so doesn’t show much humility. On Sunday, when asked to comment on his character he deflected and said it’s simply a product of what he has learned from the sport of golf and those in the game.

“It’s how the game was founded,” Spieth said. “It’s a game of integrity ... It’s not just me. I learn from example and I have great examples set before me.”

On the other hand, Spieth’s golf game was far from humble at the 79th edition of the Masters. On Thursday, he shot the lowest first round score in 19 years, making nine birdies and showing that he had no intentions of cooling off from the hot streak he’d been on leading into the tournament. He followed it up with a near-perfect 66 on Friday. He birdied all four par-5s and didn’t make a single bogey. Spieth showed a golfer’s maturity far beyond his years by leaving all of his misses in the right spots and making smart decisions whenever trouble lurked.

On the weekend, the soft course firmed up and there was more trouble to find. While his driving slipped a notch, his iron play remained otherworldly and all week his putts seemed to find the heart of the hole. Spieth looked incredibly comfortable at Augusta National, a course that often takes years of experience to figure out.

“From the first time I played, I was very excited because I felt it really suited my game,” he said. “I’m really happy that this major comes here every year.”

With a birdie on Sunday at the par-5 15th, Spieth became the first man in Masters history to reach 19-under par before giving one back at the final hole.

Spieth is no stranger to making golf history at an early age. In 2011, he joined Tiger Woods as the only multiple winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur. He played in the Byron Nelson Classic on a sponsor’s exemption at 16 years old, making the cut and finishing 16th. In 2013, he defeated Canadian David Hearn and Zach Johnson in a playoff at the John Deere Classic becoming the first teenage winner on the PGA Tour in 82 years.

Spieth led the University of Texas to an NCAA championship before leaving after his sophomore year and turning pro in late 2012.

“To have left school and take a chance and everything that happened in 2013 to prepare for last year to be in the majors and to have that opportunity; 2013 is the reason I had the experience last year, which then allowed me to win this year. So it’s all run together.”

Spieth moves to No. 2 in the world rankings. He hasn’t finished outside the top-2 in his past four starts and is scheduled to be in the field at next week’s RBC Heritage.

There was a second tournament going on behind Spieth and it was also one of the most entertaining in years. Gary Player said earlier this week that "only your wife and your dog knows you finished second.” But that’s all that was left for the rest of the field.

Justin Rose played the final round alongside Spieth and matched the winner’s Sunday 2-under 70 but was not able get any closer than three shots back at any point. The Englishman needed a hot start and got it with birdies at the first two holes but Spieth matched him at the opening hole before reclaiming his four-shot lead with a birdie at the third.

“Jordan didn’t really open the door, and I didn’t expect him to,” Rose said. “He’s played with the lead now, it feels like, for the last month.”

Rose’s game hasn’t been strong this year but the 2013 U.S. Open champion worked hard in recent weeks with Canadian swing coach Sean Foley and knew that he could contend. Rose saw firsthand the excitement that the young American star is generating among fans.

“He’s going to sort of fly the flag, I think, for golf for quite a while,” he said. “People were getting excited about that out there, you could tell.”

The Masters always seems to bring the best out of three-time green jacket winner Phil Mickelson and this year was no different. Just two years younger than Jack Nicklaus was in 1986, the 44-year-old Mickelson shot three consecutive rounds in the 60s and had a memorable moment on Saturday when he made a 41-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th. At the time, it looked as though Mickelson had worked his way into the final group with Spieth but a birdie from Rose at the 18th on Saturday changed that. The lefthander was happy with his week and his score despite finishing tied for second, four shots back.

“I would have taken 14-under at the start of the week, I would have been happy with that,” Mickelson said. “I’ve played really well to shoot 14-under and i just simply got outplayed by a young player who just played some incredible golf.”

Rory McIlroy surged up the leaderboard Sunday with a 6-under 66 to finish fourth. After shooting 40 on his front nine on Friday it looked as though the world No. 1 might not make the cut. He played his next 45 holes in 15-under par but it was too little too late.

“Yeah, I thought if I could start fast and shoot 64, it might put some pressure on the guys behind,” McIlroy said. “But I didn’t start that fast and got going in the middle of the round, but even that wouldn’t have really mattered.”

After the three major champions directly behind Spieth, the top ten included several other high-powered players including 23-year-old Hideki Matsuyama (11-under), Paul Casey (9-under), Ian Poulter (9-under) and Dustin Johnson (9-under).

Tiger Woods finished tied for 17th at 5-under but let it be known that reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated. A recently as two weeks ago the 14-time major champ was a longshot to compete at the Masters having not played since early February. Woods took two months off to work on his game after embarrassing performances at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open.

A 4-under 68 on Saturday put Woods into fifth place and in the third-last group for Sunday’s final round. The four-time Masters champ didn’t get anything going on Sunday and didn’t hit a fairway until the 13th hole en route to a 1-over 73. He appeared to injure his wrist when he said he hit a tree root on the ninth hole and offered an unlikely explanation after his round.

“A bone kind of popped out and the joint kind of went out of place but I put it back in,” Woods said.

Woods offered no information when he will next play.

“Not going to be for a while,” he said. “I have a little time off, and go back to the drawing board, work on it again, and refine what I’m doing.”

Woods said that the strong play of Spieth and other young players is simply how golf works, explaining that when he and Mickelson were young they were trying to take over from players such as Greg Norman and Nick Price.

“So the roles are reversed, but it’s neat to still be a part of it,” Woods said.